


Hero

by cate-lynne (catelynne)



Category: Avengers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-21
Updated: 2015-04-21
Packaged: 2018-03-25 01:39:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3791812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/catelynne/pseuds/cate-lynne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The reader is an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. and is on a mission with Steve.  When things go wrong, they end up stuck in a foreign country, injured and without any way to contact Fury.  Suddenly, the last person they expected comes to the rescue.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hero

“(Y/N)!”

I heard Steve shout a second before an agonizing flash of pain erupted across my side.  I looked down to see a knife buried in my side.  I tried to hold in my scream.  As an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., I had received extensive training on controlling pain and continuing through a mission even while injured.  But the theory was so different from the reality of the situation.  My hand automatically went to my side to apply pressure.  I gasped, feeling the hot wetness of blood on my hands.  There was so much blood.  I couldn’t remember any of my training.  I…Everything was starting to blur and sway.  I could hear bodies falling around me.  Black crept over the edges of my vision.

This was it.  This was the end. 

…

Or not.

When I woke up, I was staring at a clear night sky, scattered with bright stars.  There was cold cement beneath my back and a restricting band wrapped around my waist.  I tried to sit up, but there was a pain in my side that had me gasping and falling back to the floor.  In the next second, there were warm familiar hands on mine and then sliding under my shoulders to lift me up.  I felt the coolness of metal press against my lips, followed by wetness.  I automatically opened my mouth to take in as much water as I could.  Unfortunately, my need to breathe interfered with that plan and I ended up choking and couching up almost all the water I had tried to take in.

“Hey, take it easy, (Y/N),” Steve’s voice interrupted my coughing.  I could hear the concern in his voice, along with the relief.  “Thank God you’re awake.”

“What happened?” I rasped.

“We were ambushed.  You took a knife to the side.  I barely got us out of there.  We have no contact with S.H.I.E.L.D. - our comms were damaged and we missed the rendezvous.  We’ve been staying hidden during the day and moving at night.  We’ve been here for only about two hours.”

“Ok…and where is here?”

“Abandoned building on the edge of the city.”

“Ah.”  We were both silent for a minute before I spoke again. “You carried me all the way here?”

“Yeah, well…” Steve muttered, blushing. “I couldn’t exactly leave you there, could I?”

“My hero,” I gasped and pretended to swoon.  Steve started to chuckle along with me, only stopping when I was gasping in pain. Steve gently lowered back to the ground.

“Yeah, well, do you think he would ever forgive me if I let you die?”

Startled, I looked up. “What?”

Steve smirked down at me as he stood up to grab another water bottle.  When he returned, he sat next to me cross-legged.  I looked up at him in confusion.  He chuckled.

“Don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about.  Everyone knows.”

“Knows what?”

Steve stared at me, surprised. “About you and…”

“There is no me and anyone, Steve,” I said, blushing.

He studied my face, taking in the blush and the way I was staring intently at the floor. “But you want there to be.”

“Yeah, but-”

“But what?”

“It’s the kind of thing that requires both parties to feel the same way!”

“And?”  He was starting to look very frustrated.  Then he stopped, looking at me in amazement. “You don’t think he feels the same way?”

“I know he doesn’t,” I shot back. “He has never shown the slightest interest in me.”

“Oh my God, (Y/N),” Steve said in a wondering tone. “You are such an idiot.”

“Excuse me?”

“(Y/N)…Every time you look at him, we can all see how much you care about him.  But when you look away, he looks at you.  And the look in his eyes is the same one I can see in your eyes right now, thinking about him.”

“That’s…impossible.  I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“(Y/N)-,” he started, but broke off when we heard footsteps and loud voices speaking German headed our way.  He glanced at me and I put a finger to my lips, raising my eyebrows.

“We’ll finish this later.”

Steve nodded, gathered the little supplies we had back into our packs, scooped me up, and ran for it.

…

Nick Fury strode into the Tower, a grimmer-than-usual look on his face.  Tony, Natasha, and Thor, the only ones in the living room, glanced at him warily.  This couldn’t be good.

“What’s up, Fury?” Tony asked, trying to sound casual.

“Rogers and (Y/L/N) are missing.”

Immediately, the trio straightened up.  A second later, Clint dropped from a vent, Bruce appeared in the entryway of the hall that led to the labs, and Loki silently appeared in his chair by the window.

“What do you mean?” Clint asked.

Fury rolled his eyes.  The Avengers had an….almost disturbing attachment to (Y/N), but he wasn’t going to say anything.  It might actually help in this case.

“They were ambushed during their mission.  We’re not sure what exactly happened.  Their comms are out, for whatever reason, and they missed the rendezvous.   We were able to unscramble this from their comms before they went out.”  He held out a small silver recorder and pressed play.  Everyone leaned in to listen.

_[Sounds of combat]_

_“(Y/N)!”_

_[Muffled scream]_

_“(Y/N)!”_

The whole team winced at the desperate scream that tore out of Captain America’s throat.  They almost didn’t want to know what had happened…

_[Continued sounds of combat]_

_“Damn it!”_

Everyone looked at each other with wide eyes.  It must have been bad if Steve was swearing.

_[Sudden silence, cease in combat]_

_“(Y/N)…?  Hang in there, we’ll be okay.”_

_[Sound of footsteps, a large group]_

_“Damn.  Okay, (Y/N), I’m going to pick you up.  One…Two…Three!”_

_[Sounds of gunfire]_

Fury lowered his hand back to his side. “That’s it.  The comms cut out at that point and we have no clue what happened.”

Natasha looked up at him from where she was sitting on the couch.  It was only her years of working with the man that allowed her to see how worried he really was.  She shoved herself to her feet and stood directly in front of Fury.

“What do you need us to do?”

“Somebody needs to get over there and find them.  And bring them home.”

Natasha nodded, but the next second, everyone in the room was arguing.

“I should go.”

“You? You can’t carry both of them with the suit!”

“Yeah, well what are you going to do, Katniss?”

“Brothers Anthony and Clint, I believe it would be best if I go.  I can carry both Lady (Y/N) and Brother Steve.”

“No way!”

It was at that point that Fury noticed Bruce sneaking out of the room, looking green.  Er, literally. He nodded at Natasha to go check on him.  She studied his face for a minute before nodding and turning to follow Bruce.  Nick turned back to the squabbling men before him and was about to open his mouth when a quieter, impatient voice got there first.

“Enough,” Loki said.  Despite how quietly he spoke, everyone stopped to turn and look at him.  He stood up, stretching like a cat. “I shall retrieve the Captain and (Y/N).”

Everyone was quiet until Tony spoke up.

“Uh, how are you going to do that, Reindeer Games?”

Loki sent him a glare.  “I, unlike the rest of you, require no transportation.”

“That doesn’t explain how you’re going to find them.”

Loki suddenly looked very uncomfortable.

“Spit it out, Loki,” Nick ordered.  Loki’s face was a defensive glare that he somehow managed to aim at all of them at once.

“(Y/N) and I are…linked.”

“Linked?” Clint was confused.

“Linked in what way, Brother?” Thor boomed.

“We…She-I…I’ll be able to find her.  Does that suffice as explanation for now?”  He looked so uncomfortable and Fury could tell Tony was enjoying the sight of the Norse demi-god fidgeting.  He interrupted before Stark could make it worse.

“Go.”

With one final defiant glance at his teammates, Loki disappeared.

…

Even though Steve was doing all the running, I was the one gasping.  There was so much pain ripping through my body.  It was hard for me to stay quiet and not fight against Steve.  Every few steps he would glance down at me with apologetic eyes.

“Almost there,” he panted.  I nodded, but kept my mouth shut.  If I tried to speak, I would scream.  “Just hold on a little longer, (Y/N).”

A few minutes later, Steve was gently setting me down before running to see if we were in the clear.  When he came back, there was concern, worry, and a little bit of panic on his face when he looked at me.  I guessed I looked as bad as I felt.  How wonderful.

“We should be good for now.  I couldn’t find any signs of anyone following us.”  He crouched down next to me. “How you doing?”

“Peachy,” I gasped.

“Sorry,” he apologized again.  “We’re close to the border now.  We should be in France in a couple of days.”

“You carried me all the way to France? My hero.”

“I believe that I should be awarded that title,” Loki said as he appeared next to Steve.  I gasped in surprise, causing sharp pain to radiate through me.  Meanwhile, Steve was so shocked at Loki’s appearance that he promptly fell over from where he had been crouching next to me. 

“Loki?” I wheezed.  “What are you doing here?”

“I’m here to take you back to New York.”

“Seriously?”

“Indeed.  There will be no need for the Captain to take you to France.”

I laughed.  It was painful, but I didn’t care.  We were going home!  Loki smiled slightly at my joy for a second before we were encased in a gentle green light and were pulled away from the German countryside.

…

As soon as we landed (was that the right term?), there was an uproar around us.  I vaguely recognized Tony and Clint, as well as Thor, Bruce and Natasha, standing around us in a confused circle.  Director Fury was there too, and he soon brought order.

“Banner, take (Y/N) to the medical bay.  Everyone else, BACK OFF!”

Bruce hurried forward to lift me up as best he could.  After a moment’s hesitation and a glance at Loki, Clint moved forward to help.  As they carried me away, I looked over Clint’s shoulder to see Loki watching me go with an unreadable expression on his face. 

…

A few days later, I was resting comfortably in my bed in the infirmary.  I would have preferred to be in my room, but Bruce hadn’t wanted me to move more than necessary so I stayed where I was.  Steve had been in here for only a day with Natasha hovering over him before Bruce cleared him to go back to work.  From what Clint told me when he stopped by to visit, Steve had already been sent on another mission with Natasha and Thor.  Bruce checked on me periodically, but spent the majority of his time in the lab.  I didn’t know where Loki was.

That left me with Tony and Clint to entertain me.  They were very enthusiastic about it, too.  Tony got a few of his suits to bring me a giant flat screen TV.  Then the billionaire and the archer set about turning my little area into a theater.  My bed was overflowing with pillows, there were boxes and boxes of candy, and all my favorite things to eat and drink within arm’s reach.  We had an ongoing movie marathon and we were on our tenth movie.  Tony was on my left, asleep, and Clint was on my right, watching Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto bicker over the prime directive.  My eyes were slipping shut when Clint’s voice broke the silence.

“He cares about you, you know.”

I glanced at him in confusion.  He continued to stare straight ahead at the screen.

“What?”

“Loki.  He cares about you.”

I blushed. “What are you talking about?”

This time he did glance at me out of the corner of his eye, a smirk on his face. “Didn’t you wonder how he found you and Steve?”

“Yeah, I guess but…”

“He said - and if you tell him I told you, I will kill you - he said that you guys are linked.”

“Linked?  How?”

“He wouldn’t say,” Tony broke in, startling us.  “But he got real…blushy about it.”

“Blushy is not a word.”

“Is too,” Tony insisted. “Anyway, the point is that he cares about you.  He knows it, we know it, and now you know it.”

Both of the boys fell silent, giving me time and space to think about this new revelation.

…

Five movies and ten bags of popcorn later, Tony and Clint got called to help the rest of the team with some kind of alien threat.  Clint shot a grappling hook up and disappeared into a vent, ruffling my hair as he whirred away.  Tony jumped up and pressed a kiss against the top of my head.  I pushed him away playfully and he winked at me.

“Stay in trouble,” he called as he dashed away, making me giggle.

They had only been gone for about half an hour when there was a flash of green light and a sudden eight next to me on the bed.  I turned, surprised, to see Loki sitting next to me, looking bemusedly at the screen where Martin Freeman was trying to escape a giant dragon.

“I don’t understand.”

I shook my head.  “You have to watch from the beginning.”

He sighed and then glanced at me. “How are you feeling?”

“Much better.  Loki-” I started but stopped to bite my lip.  Gently, so much more gently than I would have expected, he raised a hand to smooth the little crease between my eyebrows.

“What is it?”

“I just wanted to thank you…for coming to get us.”

He gave me a tiny smile.  “Of course.  I will always come for you, (Y/N).”

Both of us froze.  I got the feeling that he hadn’t meant to say that out loud and was just as shocked as I was.  I opened my mouth, but no words came out.  He started to splutter in panic.  The sight of him so nervous and vulnerable, so un-Loki-like, made me melt.  So I leaned forward and pressed a gentle kiss to his lips.  When I pulled back, he was staring at me with wide eyes.  I smiled and settled against him, grabbing the remote.

“So…from the beginning.  The main character is Bilbo Baggins, played by Martin Freeman, and he’s a hobbit from the Shire.  A hobbit is…”

As I continued my explanation and restarted the movie, Loki started to relax and I could feel him slip an arm around my shoulders to pull me closer. 

…

Unknown to (Y/N) and Loki, the Avengers were assembled outside the door, peeking in.

“Finally!” whisper-shouted Clint. “Took them long enough.”

“Indeed,” Thor said, though considerably louder. “I was worried that Lady (Y/N) and my brother would never acknowledge their obvious feeling for each other.”

“Celebratory snack?” Tony suggested.  The rest of the team agreed and began wandering towards the elevator, except for Clint.  He peeked once more into the infirmary and smiled at the sight of his friend finally happy.

“Way to go, (Y/N),” he whispered before Tony shouted that he was going to leave Clint behind if he didn’t hurry up.  With one last glance at the couple he scampered away.

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you think, kittens!


End file.
